Todd's car screeches to a halt, sending gravel flying everywhere as he pulls into an abandoned rest stop on the side of the turnpike. The engine shuts off, and the headlights dim...then the car just sits there...no movement, nothing for a good few minutes...enough time for it to get relatively quiet again, with only the background noise of distant traffic and crickets.

Then the driver's side door opens suddenly, and Todd gets out. He slams the door behind him, and the whole car shakes in the wake. He storms away from the car, and just starts walking...and gets to the far end of the parking lot before he has to stop and take a breath. Then he grits his teeth, hard...and a sound comes out of him...not really a scream, but louder than a cry...a sound full of frustration, that echoes all over. It lasts for a while, the length of a long breath...then it dies away, and Todd tilts his head back, staring up at the tiny pinholes of light in the murky-black sky. His chest heaves with labored breaths that turn into cries...and tears start rolling down his face...a few at first, then more, and more.

He stands there...alone, in this dark place...crying in a way he hasn't done in a very long time.

*****

The phone rings at the penthouse...and rings...and rings. Finally, the machine picks up with a click-click sound. It gets quiet again as the greeting is played...then it starts recording with a loud...

BEEEEP!

But no one speaks...there is only the sound of air, for a good few seconds. Then...

...someone hangs up on the other end, making a lot of noise doing it. The machine rewinds and resets, the red message light blinking away.

*****

4:30 a.m.

Colin sits parked across from Tea's apartment building, staring up at the light in her window. He'd been sitting there for a good hour already, just watching. He looks around, at the rest of the street, completely dark except for the streetlights. It's quiet...eerily so...and Colin can't get rid of the nagging feeling that's been with him ever since he pulled up and parked.

He looks back up at the window...and sees the cozy, yellow-orange lamplight again. He makes a face, thinking. It wasn't unusual for somebody to be up so late...and god only knew what kind of argument she'd had with Todd after they left. Maybe she's still up...maybe he's in there with her...

...maybe...she just fell asleep with the light on...?

His brow knits tighter...because as much sense as all those explanations made, somehow...none of them sounded right. None of them made the nagging go away...and for some reason, he didn't feel like he could just drive off and leave. Something...was telling him to stay...and it wasn't just the fact that he was still determined to get back at Todd, or the fact that he found Tea to be much more than he expected.

It wasn't any of that...it was something else...something...wasn't right.

He concentrates on the window, as if it could tell him...and after a long moment, his face changes, from confusion to realization. And he takes a sudden breath, his mouth opening...then he jumps out of the car and runs across the street.

*****

Still parked at the rest stop, Todd sits with the driver's door open, half-in and half-out of the car. He stares at the ground, blankly, his cell phone in hand. His crying has stopped, and he seems strangely calm. After a moment, he looks at his phone...and then, without a thought to the time, he dials a number.

*****

The phone rings at the Cramer house, cutting through the peace and quiet to startle Kelly, who nearly jumps out of her skin. Her arm darts out from the pile of bedding, grabbing the phone off the hook...then she pulls it under the covers.

"H-hellllo...?" she says, muffled. Nothing.

"Hello??" she says again, more coherent now.

"It's Todd...get Starr on the phone."

She sits up, rubbing her face and hair. "Wh-what??"

"I gotta talk to her."

She half-laughs, as she turns on the lamp beside her, and squints at the clock.

"Ohhhhh...do you know what time it is??"

In his car, Todd wags his eyebrows at that...his eyes still vacant, and glazed. But then he blinks, snapping out of it momentarily, and he looks at his watch...then he makes a face.

"Oh...no, I...I didn't...realize..."

"Jesus..." Kelly hisses, throwing the covers off. "...you are such a fuckin' freak. Can't you just let her sleep? Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait for a few hours."

Todd blinks, again, and again, as if trying to wake himself up. He rubs his forehead, now throbbing with painful stress.

"Uh...well---" he starts, but she cuts him off.

"I'll tell her to call you, alright? Now fuck off," she says, in an angry whisper, ready to hang up.

"No! Wait a minute!" he yells suddenly.

Kelly sighs hard...waiting, against her better judgement. Todd stands up, and starts pacing to clear his head.

"No. I know what time it is, I know she's sleeping, but I...I gotta talk to her. It's important."

"Well, if it's THAT important, shouldn't you be talking to your WIFE??"

"Kelly..." he says, taking a breath to stay calm. "I don't have time to deal with you right now. OR Blair. I want STARR. GO...WAKE...HER...UP...NOW!"

Kelly sits there for a moment, shaking her head, and running her tongue along the backs of her teeth. Then she sighs again.

"Fine," she says, curtly. "But don't think Blair isn't gonna hear about this."

With that, she gets up, and shuffles out into the hallway, the cordless phone dangling from her hand. She opens Starr's door and tiptoes in, kneeling down by the bedside. She looks at the little girl's peaceful expression, hesitating...then she shakes her, gently. Starr blinks awake, making a confused, sleepy face at her.

Kelly smiles. "Watch your eyes," she whispers, waiting for Starr to shut her eyes before turning on the lamp. Starr opens her eyes again slowly, blinking at the light...then Kelly hands her the phone.

"Um...your father wants to talk to you. I guess it's important."

Starr sits up, rubbing her eyes. Kelly moves onto the bed, sitting next to her as she takes the phone and holds it to her ear.

"Dad?"

Todd shuts his eyes at the sound of her voice...such a beautiful sound. "Hi."

"Wha...whassssamatter?" she asks, still rubbing her eyes.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to wake you up. But...I had to talk to you."

"Why? What?"

He sighs, long and hard, as he sits back down inside the car. "I don't know what to do, Starr...I really don't."

"What happened?"

Todd kicks at the car door. "I really screwed up," he says, his eyes going vacant again.

"She told me...she doesn't...she doesn't wanna see me. She just...kept telling me to go home."

"Who?" Starr asks, forgetting...then she remembers. "Ohhhh...y'mean...Tee?"

Sitting beside her, Kelly makes a face at that...Starr looks over at her, realizing she's still sitting there.

"Hold on a second," she says into the phone, as she gets up. Kelly watches her as she opens the door to her closet, and steps in.

"Thanks, Kelly...you can go back to bed," she says...then she ducks back into the closet, and shuts the door. Kelly's mouth falls open, in amazement...she shakes her head, laughing to herself as she gets up.

"Well, that's just...NICE. REAL nice," she mutters to herself, as she shuffles back to her room.

Inside the big closet, Starr sits down in the corner, a favorite spot of hers. She has it set up like a lounge area for herself, with a sleeping bag, a pillow, some stuffed animals, some coloring books, and a lamp, which she switches on, filling the closet with cozy, warm light.

"So what happened?" she asks, snuggling into the sleeping bag.

"She's so angry at me, Starr...and so...hurt. I can't...do ANYTHING to make her feel better," he whispers back.

"Did she yell at you?"

"Yelled...screamed...cried...she even started hitting me. Called me every horrible thing she could think of. But she wasn't wrong, y'know...I deserved it."

Starr settles into her pillow, thinking. "Well...did you say you were sorry?"

Still sitting in the car, Todd laughs a tiny bit. "Yeah...yeah, I did. But it's not enough. It'll never be enough. I've...I think I'm...past the point where 'sorry' works, y'know? WAY past."

She makes a face at that. "But...was she mad the whole time?"

"No...not the whole time. She got mad first...but...then she was just...sad. Sad, and...tired. Tired of putting up with me."

Starr sighs, not really knowing what to say. She sits up, tucking her legs under her, putting the pillow in her lap. She hears him breathing through the line...crying, maybe...and she looks down, sadly.

"I'm sorry, Dad...I'm really sorry. I wish I could...think of something."

Todd sniffs, staring upward. "I can't believe I screwed this up so bad. She even told me...that she misses me...and that she still loves me...but---"

Starr's eyes pop open wide at that. "What?? She said that??"

"Well...yeah, but---"

"DAAAAD!!!" she yells. "Don't you see it?? That means it's still okay!!!"

He shuts his eyes, half-laughing at her innocent remark. "No...it doesn't mean that. It just means that...that I...I coulda had everything I ever wanted...and I just screwed it all up. It means that I'm...STUPID. THAT'S what it means."

"No, it doesn't!! She loves you, Dad! She misses you! She wants you to be there with her!"

"No, she DOESN'T, Starr," he replies, starting to get annoyed.

"DAD. I'm TELLING YOU, it's true! Where are you?"

Todd makes a face, confused by her optimism...her refusal to see him for the loser he is. "I'm on my way back to the house. I just stopped for a minute."

Starr jumps up. "WHAT??? You mean you LEFT??"

"I HAD TO, Starr...she doesn't wanna see me!! Get it through your head!!"

"You gotta go back!!"

"What?! No!!"

"YES!!!"

"Starr---"

"Dad, listen to me...the only reason she's sad now is because you left! And if you just leave again...then...she's only gonna get sadder!!! Don't you get it??!!"

Todd stands up. "Shorty, look...I appreciate your...advice, okay? But trust me...if I go back, it's only gonna get worse."

"NO, Dad. It's only gonna get worse if you DON'T go back!"

He takes that in, speechless for a second...then he shrugs. "Where the hell's this coming from, anyway?? What's up with you??"

Starr slumps against the closet door, sighing. "I just...know how Tee must feel, that's all."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Well...I remember how sad *I* was...when you left before."

Todd's mouth falls open at that. Starr sits back down again, leaning on her pillow.

"So I know...how sad SHE must be."

"Oh, god..." he mutters, realizing...remembering. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, Starr...you know that, right? You know I...didn't mean to make you sad."

She shrugs, like a typical kid. "Yeah, I know...but...you're not gonna make things better by leaving. Now you're BOTH just gonna be sad all the time."

He sits back down, floored by this sudden outburst of maturity...and wisdom...from someone who was still learning how to add and subtract. Starr sighs again, waiting for a response.

"You gotta go back," she whispers.

"I'm scared to go back."

She smiles. "Don't be scared...it's just Tee."

Todd cracks up at that, despite everything. "How'd you get to be so smart?"

Starr smiles wider, shrugging again. "I dunno."

A short silence passes between them. Then Todd gets back in the car...all the way in...and shuts the door.

"Okay..." he says. "I'm gonna do it."

"Yay!" Starr giggles. "I'm right, Dad. I know it. I'm right...you'll see."

He nods, starting the car. "Yeah...I think you are. I'll call you later...go back to bed."

"Okay...bye..."

"Wait---Starr."

"What?"

"I love you."

She smiles again. "I love you, too... 'night, Dad," she says, then hangs up.

Todd sits there for a moment, still reeling...realizing that his little girl wasn't so little anymore. She understood things he couldn't...and was wise, way beyond her years. A wistful smile crosses his face, feeling a surge of fatherly pride...and wondering how she got that way. Then he sniffs again, shaking himself awake as he throws it in drive and peels out of the rest stop.

*****

4:45 a.m.

Colin races up the steps, having managed to break in through the building's back door. He scans the doors, looking for the apartment...when he finds it, he starts banging on the door, without a thought to the time or the other tenants.

"Tea!!!" he yells, becoming more and more convinced, as the seconds pass, that his hunch was right...and something was wrong.

A high-school aged, Hispanic kid pokes his head out of the apartment next door. "YO!!! What the hell, man??? It's not even five!!!"

Colin stops, staring at the kid...then he realizes. "Ohhhh...oh god, I'm sorry...but...my friend lives here, and...I'm afraid..."

The kid looks at him strangely, as do a few other tenants, suddenly appearing in their doorways. Colin looks at all of them...knowing this wasn't the kind of attention he wanted. But still...he knew something was wrong now. He looks back at the kid.

"Look, she's been having a really rough time lately, and...I'm afraid she might be...ah, fuck it...TEA!!!" he yells, going back to pounding on the door. After a few seconds, he gives up on that, and starts kicking the door instead. The tenants start gathering around, exchanging looks...wondering if they should be calling the cops on him.

Colin manages to kick the door free, and it swings back fast, banging on the wall. He runs in, looking all around at the empty living room, with the light still on. He sprints down the hall to the bedroom, and turns on the light...

...but the bed is empty, too. He whirls around, finally spotting the closed bathroom door, with a strip of light peeking through the bottom. He walks over, putting a hand on the knob...suddenly cautious...hesitating...

...because his gut is telling him...this...is the place. The kid from next door walks up to him.

"Hey, man...she okay?"

"I'll tell you in a second," Colin replies, swallowing hard. Then he opens the door, slowly...and only enough to poke his head in.

"Tea? You in here?" he asks, his heart pounding. He sees the sink and toilet...then he turns his head to look in the other direction...

...and nearly screams.

*****

Todd floors it in the fast lane, driving like a demon. The other traffic seems to be crawling compared to him, as he passes car, after car, after car. His eyes stay glued to the road, locked with an intense concentration.

Then, just like that, he blinks himself out of it...and he doesn't know why. It was like he'd been sleeping, and someone had just reached over and shook him. He immediately slows down, feeling suddenly disoriented...

...and suddenly...scared...but not his usual kind of scared. This was more like...a really, REALLY bad feeling. And for a moment, he wonders which way he should be going...was it something at home? Was it Starr? Or was it...?

He looks ahead, at the Manhattan skyline just ahead of him...and puts the pedal down again.

*****

Colin grabs the kid from next door by the shoulders, shaking him.

"Call an ambulance!!!!"

The kid looks at the door, left ajar...but can't see what he's talking about. "What??"

"CALL...AN...AMBULANCE!!! NOW!! RIGHT NOW!!!" Colin yells, right in his face.

The kid backs away. "Okay, okay!! I'm goin'!!" he says, as he sprints out of the apartment.

Colin runs around, opening every door in the hallway. He finally finds the linen closet and grabs a handful of towels. Then he runs back into the bathroom, and kneels beside the bathtub...

...the bathtub...white, except for the streams of bright red running down the side...

...the bathtub...where Tea lies, naked...and unconscious...up to her chest in bloody water.

The kid from next door runs in, and immediately staggers back when he sees her, covering his mouth in horror.

"Oh my GOD...DAMN...I just...I called 911...they're coming!"

"Okay...okay..." Colin says, breathing hard...trying not to panic, as he pulls Tea's limp arms out of the water. He examines her wrists, each of which have been slashed, with one deep cut...still bleeding profusely.

"Oh, jesus..." he mutters, as he rips a towel in half, and wraps the cloth around each cut tightly, tying it off.

"Help me pull her out!" he yells, and the kid runs over, reaching into the water to grab her ankles. Colin grabs her underneath the shoulders, and they pull her out, laying her flat on the floor. The kid snatches a big towel off the rack and covers her, as Colin opens her eyes one at a time, stretching her eyelids, examining her pupils.

"TEA...can you hear me?? TEA??" he yells, as he gets down low, putting an ear to her mouth...to see if he can hear her breathing. He closes his eyes, concentrating...and after a second...

...he feels a light tickle of air in his ear...a very slight, very weak breath sound. He sticks his fingers into her neck, trying to find her pulse...and again, after a second, he feels a very weak beat, pushing against his finger. He looks up at the kid, who's still standing there, horrified.

"Okay...she's...she's still breathing. Uh...you should go wait outside for the EMT's ...flag 'em down."

The kid nods, backing up. "Yeah...okay," he says, as he disappears through the doorway.

Colin lifts Tea's arms up, bending them at the elbows...then he folds them across her chest, and holds them there, trying to stop the bleeding. He looks at her face, her lips, and her skin...so pale now, almost blue. Holding her wrists with one hand, he reaches out with the other, and gently strokes her cool cheek.

"Oh, Tea...I'm sorry..." he whispers.

After a moment, the distant sirens get closer and louder. And before he even realizes it, Colin feels warm tears running down his face. He wipes at them, uselessly...then buries his face in his hand, rocking himself back and forth...as he waits for the EMT's to come.

*****

5:30 a.m.

The sky is gradually brightening as Todd drives through the city streets. He makes the last turn, looking for a place to park...when he suddenly notices the commotion on the street. He pulls into the first spot he finds and gets out, looking down the block...at the police cruisers, double-parked in the street, lights flashing. He gets out slowly, leaning on the roof of the car...staring at the officers on the sidewalk, talking to a few people still in their nightclothes.

Then he realizes...that they're right in front of Tea's building. Immediately, his eyes are drawn up to her window...then he darts across the street, giving a concerned glance to the crowd as he tries to enter the building. He only gets as far as the foyer before he's stopped by another policeman.

"Whoa, hold on...you live here?" the cop asks.

Instinctively, Todd shakes his head no...so the cop starts pushing him back out the door.

"Sorry, but...we can't have anybody going up there yet."

Todd backs up as far as the doorway, then stops. " But...my ex-wife lives here. What's going on?"

The cop does a take, giving him a questioning look. "What's your name, sir?"

"Todd Manning...wh---"

"Which apartment's she in?"

"She's in 3F," Todd replies...suddenly feeling like the world is slowing down...like everything he's saying is being stretched out, and distorted. The cop's eyes widen at that, and it takes him a second to respond.

"And what's HER name?"

Todd feels himself starting to sweat. "Tea...Tea Delgado...wwwwhy??"

The cop sighs. "You better come with me," he says, turning toward the stairs. Todd follows him with his eyes at first...then starts walking, following behind him, even though half of him doesn't want to. The walk to the apartment seems like forever...and Todd looks at all the tenants as he passes them by...again, feeling like time is stretching out...stretching and pulling apart, in a disturbing, stomach-turning sort of way.

Then they get to the door and the cop turns around, blocking his way.

"Look, I just wanna warn you---" is all he gets out before Todd pushes past him...but he stops short when he sees the two plain-clothes officers in the hallway, hovering around the bathroom. The cop steps up behind him, looking down the hall at the other officers.

"This is the woman's ex, Todd Manning," he says, pointing at Todd, who makes a beeline for them. The plain-clothes officers exchange looks as he shoves through them to get into the tiny room.

His eyes find the tub immediately, drawn to the muddy red amidst the white. His mouth falls open, and all his breath leaves him as his eyes drift over the trail left behind...the streaks running down the side, the puddles on the floor. The detectives watch him carefully, as he steps back, tripping...grabbing onto the sink for balance, then pushing back into the corner as he starts to panic.

One of the detectives, a woman, puts herself between him and the tub, putting her hands out in a calming motion.

"Mr. Manning...I'm Detective Hall. Your wife was just taken to the hospital...we can have a car bring you over there," she says, softly.

But Todd is only half-listening...his eyes still drawn to the red...

...red...blood red...Tea's blood...her life...spilled all over the white room...the clean room...

...flashes of memory hit him hard and fast, like punches to the gut. He remembers a second of watching Tea's silhouette, brushing her teeth in the shower...then a second of her soaking in the tub, looking beautiful and peaceful as she relaxed in a sea of bubbles...humming to herself...

...then another flash, as his mind draws the picture for him...of Tea, bleeding to death in that very same tub. He breathes harshly and shallow...almost hyperventilating. Detective Hall looks at her partner, who gets on the radio to bring one of the cars around...then she looks back at Todd.

"Hey...hey...you need to calm down, okay? She's not dead. Are you listening to me?"

Todd finally manages to tear his gaze away, and look at her. She nods at him.

"Luckily, somebody found her before it was too late. Now...why don't I walk you downstairs to the car?"

He locks onto her eyes...kind eyes...brown and gentle, like Tea's. He concentrates on them, on her...because if he doesn't, he'll just fold up, right there on the spot. Detective Hall leads him out slowly, making sure he's right behind her all the way downstairs. They step outside, and she goes down the steps, opening the back door of the cruiser that's pulled up. Todd walks toward her like a zombie...slow, with a heaviness in his walk, and a glaze over his eyes. Detective Hall's face softens, feeling for him as he steps up to her, looking at her with that blindsided stare.

"She's gonna be okay," is all she can think of to say...though, in all honesty, she didn't really know if it was true. Todd looks at her for another second, then gets in the back of the cruiser...staring straight ahead as she shuts the door.

Hall's partner walks up to her as the car pulls away and drives off. He shakes his head, making a clicking sound with his gum. She looks at him.

"What?"

"THAT'S her ex? No wonder she tried killing herself."

Her eyes widen, surprised by his crass remark. "What do you mean? You know him?"

He tips his head slightly. "Know OF him...dontcha remember that big rape trial that happened in that pissant little town in Pennsylvania a few years back? Bunch of fratboy assholes, gang-raped that girl? You don't remember?"

Hall squints, thinking...then she shakes her head. "No, I don't...was he one of them?"

Her partner nods, smacking his gum again. "Boy's got a record long as my arm...and doing hard time in Statesville obviously didn't teach him a goddamned thing."

Hall wags her eyebrows at that...and they both stare after the car, getting smaller in the distance. Her partner smacks his gum some more, then shakes his head again.

"Bet he drove her to it," he says...then walks back inside.

Hall watches him go...then looks back at the street again, as the car turns and disappears. She makes a face, having no reason to doubt her partner, but...knowing, somehow, that there had to be more to the story. She'd seen his face...and it certainly wasn't the face of a man gloating over the fact that he'd driven his ex-wife to suicide. She sighs, walking back inside...having every intention of getting to the hospital as soon as possible.

*****

Colin sits in the chair, shifting around nervously. He looks at his arm, with the IV attached to it...following the tube that was funneling blood out of his vein and into a bag that was almost full now. After a moment, an ER nurse comes busting in...and Colin watches her as she strips off her gloves...gloves covered with Tea's blood. She dumps the gloves and scrubs her hands, snapping on a new pair as she walks over to him, and goes about the business of collecting his blood. He watches her as she gently pulls the IV out of his arm, and presses a gauze pad on the hole.

"Here, hold that," she says, as she collects the tubes and seals the bag.

"How is she?" he asks, whispering.

The nurse looks at him, smiling kindly, the way only nurses can. "Well...she's not great, but...we've seen a lot worse. You got to her just in time, though. Another half-hour, and...she probably wouldn't have made it. You saved her life."

Colin just looks at her, not knowing how to react...then he nods. "Is she stable yet?"

The nurse nods back. "Just about...once we get this blood going, we can move her to the OR," she says, taping the gauze over his arm. "Come on out, and you can head up with us."

"Yeah...be right there," he replies, as she takes off down the hall with his blood. The door swings back and forth, finally closing...leaving him alone, and blocking out all the outside noise.

Colin leans forward in the chair, and puts his head in his hands, as a rush of releasing stress rolls through him...coming out in the form of tears and a heavy, heavy sigh. He sits there for a good few minutes, just letting it out...then he sits up straight, wiping his face roughly.

He takes a few deep breaths, then walks out into the hall, slowly...a bit lightheaded from the blood donation...just in time to see the ER team wheeling Tea out of the trauma room, on their way to the elevator. He sighs again...then jogs after them, catching up. He walks alongside Tea's gurney, gently holding her hand as they wheel her into the elevator.